A highly conserved nuclear gene for low-level phylogenetics: elongation factor-1 alpha recovers morphology-based tree for heliothine moths

Molecular systematists need increased access to nuclear genes. Highly conserved, low copy number protein-encoding nuclear genes have attractive features for phylogenetic inference but have heretofore been applied mostly to very ancient divergences. By virtue of their synonymous substitutions, such genes should contain a wealth of information about lower-level taxonomic relationships as well, with the advantage that amino acid conservatism makes both alignment and primer definition straightforward. We tested this postulate for the elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1 alpha) gene in the noctuid moth subfamily Heliothinae, which has probably diversified since the middle Tertiary. We sequenced 1,240 bp in 18 taxa representing heliothine groupings strongly supported by previous morphological and allozyme studies. The single most parsimonious gene tree and the neighbor-joining tree for all nucleotides show almost complete concordance with the morphological tree. Homoplasy and pairwise divergence levels are low, transition/transversion ratios are high, and phylogenetic information is spread evenly across gene regions. The EF-1 alpha gene and presumably other highly conserved genes hold much promise for phylogenetics of Tertiary age eukaryote groups.      

Direct selection of Aspergillus terricola variants having different toxicity on a culture of fibroblasts

A direct method is proposed to select less toxic mutants of Aspergillus terricola on a culture of fibroblasts. The conidia are first irradiated with UV, and then are used to grow colonies on the glass surface of tubes or flasks containing medium 199. The cells of fibroblasts are added thereupon and the two cultures are being grown together for 24--48 hours. The colonies which inhibit the growth of fibroblasts to a less extent are selected using microscopy. The method can be used for primarily selection of experimentally produced mutants of Aspergillus which form fibrinolytic enzymes possessing low toxicity.     

Comparative antibiotic sensitivity of different species of staphylococci isolated from humans]

A total of 206 strains of various staphylococcal species isolated from various sources were studied with respect to their sensitivity to 18 antibiotics. The number of strains poly-resistant to the antibiotics was almost the same among Staph. aureus and Staph. epidermidis, i. e. 54.8 and 51.3 per cent respectively. The coagulase-negative and mannitol-negative variants of Staph. aureus and Staph. epidermidis possessing high biological activity (10-14 properties) were resistant to more antibiotics as compared to the low active strains.     

Plant virus infection development as affected by heavy metal stress

The work was focused on the investigation of possible dependencies between the development of viral infection in plants and the presence of high heavy metal concentrations in soil. Field experiments have been conducted in order to study the development of systemic tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection in Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv. Miliana plants under effect of separate salts of heavy metals Cu, Zn and Pb deposited in soil. As it is shown, simultaneous effect of viral infection and heavy metals in tenfold maximum permissible concentration leads to decrease of total chlorophyll content in experiment plants mainly due to the degradation of chlorophyll a. The reduction of chlorophyll concentration under the combined influence of both stress factors was more serious comparing to the separate effect of every single factor. Plants' treatment with toxic concentrations of lead and zinc leaded to slight delay in the development of systemic TMV infection together with more than twofold increase of virus content in plants that may be an evidence of synergism between these heavy metal's and virus' effects. Contrary, copper although decreased total chlorophyll content but showed protective properties and significantly reduced amount of virus in plants.     

Ultrastructure of hematopoietic and stromal cells of the subendosteal region of the bone marrow

Using electron microscopic cytochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy, the ultrastructure of bone marrow (BM) cells of the subendosteal region with a high colony-forming (CFUs) ability was studied. In comparison with the central part of BM, the subendosteal region of CBA and BALB/c mice contains a higher number of lymphocyte-like mononuclears, bearing an antigen, common with the brain surface one but negative for peroxidase and acid and alkaline phosphatase. The ultrastructure of these cells is similar to that of presumptive hematopoietic stem cells. In the subendosteal region mononuclears are concentrated with the lower nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio, a feston-like line of the nucleus and more numerous organoids. These cells are characteristic of BM myeloid islands composed of granulocytes being on various stages of differentiation, and of reticular cells positive for alkaline phosphatase.     

The Russian gene pool. Frequency of genetic markers

Frequency distribution of several genetic markers was studied in ethnic Russians from the Moscow, Bryansk, Ryazan', Kostroma, Novgorod, Arkhangel'sk, and Sverdlovsk oblasts and Udmurtiya. Systems AB0, RH, HP, TF, GC, PI, C'3, ACP1, PGM1, ESD, GLO1, 6PGD, and AK were analyzed in most samples. New data on informative polymorphic genetic loci showed that the Russian gene pool mostly displays Caucasoid features. In addition, Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) DYS19, DYS390, and YCAII were analyzed in the Russian samples. STRs of the chromosome are particularly valuable for elucidating ethnogenetic processes in Eastern Europe. Frequency distributions of the Y-chromosomal markers in Russians were intermediate between those of West European populations and eastern Finno-Ugric ethnoses of the Volga region. A marked longitudinal gradient was revealed for frequencies of several molecular markers.     

Variability and dynamics of micronuclei rate in participants of transatlantic march of the VIIth Ukranian Antarctic expedition

The estimation of individual variability and group dynamics of micronuclei rate in buccal cells of participants of transatlantic march of the VIIth Ukrainian Antarctic expedition (Sevastopol--UAS "Akademik Vernadsky"--Sevastopol) was carried out. The general average rate of micronuclei was 2.20 per thousand. Individual values of micronuclei frequencies varied in wide limits. The maximum value of CV was 92.4% and the minimal one was 48.4%. Individual averages of micronuclei rates varied from 1.70 to 2.78 per thousand. Dependence of individual and group dynamics of micronuclei rates on environmental factors (temperature, atmospheric pressure and storm activity) was tested. No significant correlation of these parameters was found.